Ladies’ Garments, Women’s Work, Women’s Activism: Garment Work and Women’s Organizing in New York City

The International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) was once the largest union of women in the world, with tens of thousands of members in New York City alone. Generations of women workers and organizers in New York fought for recognition and protection for workers on the job, and reimagined what unions could do beyond the factories. The ILGWU pioneered modern worker benefits and inspired social welfare programs in education, health, recreation, and legal aid. Its women organizers also shaped women’s movements across the 20th century, using their experience and resources to energize campaigns for women’s rights from the suffrage movement of the 1910s to the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

In honor of Women’s History Month—and the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 1911—the Center for Women’s History welcomes scholars Alice Kessler-Harris, Margaret M. Chin, and Janette Gayle to discuss the ILGWU’s impact on the labor movement and women’s movements, moderated by New-York Historical’s Nick Juravich.

About the Speakers
Dr. Alice Kessler-Harris is chair of the Scholarly Advisory Board of the Center for Women’s History at the New-York Historical Society and R. Gordon Hoxie Professor Emerita of US History at Columbia University. Dr. Margaret M. Chin is professor of sociology at Hunter College. Dr. Janette Gayle is assistant professor of history at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Nick Juravich (moderator) is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Women’s History at New-York Historical Society and worked on Ladies’ Garments, Women’s Work, Women’s Activism.

This program is presented in combination with Ladies’ Garments, Women’s Work, Women’s Activismnow on view in the Jean Dubinsky Appleton Women and Labor Exhibition Case.

Refreshments will be served.











When: Fri., Mar. 29, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Where: New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
212-873-3400
Price: General Admission $15; Member $12
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The International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) was once the largest union of women in the world, with tens of thousands of members in New York City alone. Generations of women workers and organizers in New York fought for recognition and protection for workers on the job, and reimagined what unions could do beyond the factories. The ILGWU pioneered modern worker benefits and inspired social welfare programs in education, health, recreation, and legal aid. Its women organizers also shaped women’s movements across the 20th century, using their experience and resources to energize campaigns for women’s rights from the suffrage movement of the 1910s to the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

In honor of Women’s History Month—and the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 1911—the Center for Women’s History welcomes scholars Alice Kessler-Harris, Margaret M. Chin, and Janette Gayle to discuss the ILGWU’s impact on the labor movement and women’s movements, moderated by New-York Historical’s Nick Juravich.

About the Speakers
Dr. Alice Kessler-Harris is chair of the Scholarly Advisory Board of the Center for Women’s History at the New-York Historical Society and R. Gordon Hoxie Professor Emerita of US History at Columbia University. Dr. Margaret M. Chin is professor of sociology at Hunter College. Dr. Janette Gayle is assistant professor of history at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Nick Juravich (moderator) is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Women’s History at New-York Historical Society and worked on Ladies’ Garments, Women’s Work, Women’s Activism.

This program is presented in combination with Ladies’ Garments, Women’s Work, Women’s Activismnow on view in the Jean Dubinsky Appleton Women and Labor Exhibition Case.

Refreshments will be served.

Buy tickets/get more info now